March 16, 2014

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Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

Birmingham Marian guard Samantha Thomas shares a smile during the second half of the Class A state final game Saturday. She scored a season-high 15 points to lead Marian to a 44-26 victory over Canton. / Jarrad Henderson / Detroit Free Press

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EAST LANSING — The turning point in Birmingham Marian’s season came way back in November, weeks before it played its first game. Coach Mary Cicerone knew freshman Samantha Thomas would contribute, but how much remained to be seen.

The way Thomas remembers it, as a practice wound down Cicerone told the team: “OK, if you run this your fastest, you can go home.”

Up until then, there had been something holding back Thomas. Maybe it was simply the fact that she was a freshman.

“I was always not running my hardest,” she said. “I don’t know why, it felt like I was because I was always tired, but I never was. After she said that, I got on the line and I sprinted my hardest, and I was the first one done.”

Thomas played, and as the season progressed, so did her game. Saturday, she scored a season-high 15 points to lead Marian to a 44-26 victory over Canton to give Marian its fifth Class A state championship.

Each season there seem to be more and more freshmen making their presence felt on varsity teams, but no one in the state did it quite like Thomas, 6-feet. She is only 14 years old and one of the youngest kids in her class.

It is rare for an underclassman to have such an impact on a state championship game, but Thomas was clearly the best player on the Breslin Center floor. She thoroughly dominated the third quarter, converting three old-fashioned three-point plays when she took the action directly at the tough Canton defense.

In the biggest game of the season she was anything but timid, like most freshman would be given the circumstances.

“Some freshmen are scared to step up because of the atmosphere, but everyone else on the team settled me down,” Thomas said. “They knew my best and that sometimes I don’t play to my best, but they knew I had to play my best today and they encouraged me.”

Making the transition to Marian and varsity basketball easier for Thomas has been her sister, Bailey, a sophomore.

“She helps me out a lot,” Samantha said. “We sit together every lunch. I sit with her friends and sometimes she sits with my friends, but we always sit together.”

Bailey, 5-9, is Marian’s top defensive player and Samantha isn’t bad, either. While Bailey defended against Canton’s post player, Samantha took on the top perimeter scorer and did a terrific job.

“The first day I saw her I was kind of checking her out, new player on the team,” said Marian junior Brittany Gray. “I saw she could handle the ball, she could shoot, she could jump, she could run. I knew she was just going to be a key player for our team this year.”

When asked why she played so well in the state championship game, Samantha Thomas said she did it to make it easier on her teammates.

“I didn’t really want to let anyone feel the pressure to have to take up the team because everyone else was doing bad,” she said. “I just wanted everyone to do their best. So, if we all play together, there’s no need for someone to step up.”

Yet she was the one who stepped up.

When the preseason list of the top 100 players was released, one parent wrote and asked how Thomas could be included since she hadn’t played a minute of high school basketball.

This was why.

And it all began with a drill at the end of a practice back in November.

“That was the turning point,” Thomas said. “That’s when I knew I had to step up and I knew I could make a difference on the team.”